Kedgeree (or occasionally ) is a dish consisting of cooked, flaked

fish Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...

(traditionally smoked haddock), boiled

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

parsley Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to the central and eastern Mediterranean region (Sardinia, Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, southern Italy, Greece, ...

, hard-boiled eggs, curry powder,

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condim ...

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

, and occasionally sultanas. The dish can be eaten hot or cold. Other fish can be used instead of haddock such as tuna or salmon, though these are not traditional. In India, khichari is any of a large variety of

legume A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock for ...

-and-

dishes. These dishes are made with a spice mixture designed for each recipe and either dry-toasted or fried in oil before inclusion. This dish was heavily adapted by the British, developing a dish almost unrecognisable from the original khichari.

History

Kedgeree is thought to have originated with the

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

rice-and-bean or rice-and-lentil dish khichuṛī, traced back to 1340 or earlier.''Lobscouse and Spotted Dog; Which It's a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels'', Anne Chotzinoff Grossman and Lisa Grossman Thomas, Norton, 1997, p. 12. '' Hobson-Jobson'' cites

ibn Battuta Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battutah (, ; 24 February 13041368/1369),; fully: ; Arabic: commonly known as Ibn Battuta, was a Berber Maghrebi scholar and explorer who travelled extensively in the lands of Afro-Eurasia, largely in the Muslim ...

() mentioning a dish of munj ( mung beans) boiled with rice called kishrī and cites a recipe for khichdi from the '' Ain-i-Akbari'' (). In

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

, where khichdi remains popular, the lentil and rice dish is usually served with kadhi, a spiced yogurt dish that can be mixed with the khichdi. Khichdi is usually not prepared with fish in

, although fish is sometimes eaten with khichdi in coastal villages where seafood is plentiful. According to ''Hobson-Jobson'', while fish is eaten with kedgeree, the use of the term for "mess of re-cooked fish ... is inaccurate". The

Mughal emperor The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled ...

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

(d.1707) was fond of the Alamgiri Khichdi, a variety featuring fish and boiled eggs. It is widely believed that the dish was brought to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

by returning British colonials who had enjoyed it in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

and introduced it to the UK as a

breakfast Breakfast is the first meal of the day usually eaten in the morning. The word in English refers to breaking the fasting period of the previous night.Anderson, Heather Arndt (2013)''Breakfast: A History'' AltaMira Press. Various "typical" or " ...

dish in Victorian times, part of the fashionable

Anglo-Indian cuisine Anglo-Indian cuisine is the cuisine that developed during the British Raj in India. It was brought to England in the 1930s by the Veeraswamy restaurant, followed by a few others, but not by typical Indian restaurants. The cuisine introduced dish ...

. The dish was listed as early as 1790 in the recipe book of Stephana Malcolm of Burnfoot, Dumfriesshire. The National Trust for Scotland's book ''The Scottish Kitchen'' by Christopher Trotter notes the Malcolm recipe and other old examples, expressing the belief that the dish was devised by Scottish regiments hankering for the tastes of India. By the 19th century, Kedgeree had become a sophisticated breakfast/brunch dish in England, appearing, for example, in a Saki short story.

References

External links

* {{Rice dishes Fish dishes Indian cuisine in the United Kingdom Indian rice dishes Victorian cuisine Anglo-Indian cuisine Curry dishes

History

See also

References

External links